Heat have started to win a lot of close games — thank Dion Waiters for that

The Miami Heat’s James Johnson and Goran Dragic, left, greet Dion Waiters (11) as they lead in the fourth quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. The Heat won, 108-101. (Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/TNS)

MIAMI — The Heat struggled to win close games over the first half of the season, but they have fixed that issue.

After recording an 8-15 record in “clutch” games — defined by the NBA as a game that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter — over the first 41 games of the season, Miami is now winning most of the close games it’s a part of.

Since reaching the midway point of the season with an 11-30 overall record, the Heat (31-34) are 20-4. Some of that success is due to Miami’s ability to execute down the stretch in tight games, as the Heat have posted a 9-3 record in “clutch” games during this winning stretch that began on Jan. 17.

Only the Spurs have a better record in “clutch” games during this time at 9-2.

“Well, we’ve been working at it,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Heat’s improvement in “clutch” games. “Before January, we’ve been in the most close games, clutch games. We were losing those games and dropping them, and we became very committed to working at it and just committed to that process. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but we continue to be in a lot of these games.”

Dion Waiters is a big reason for Miami’s success late in close games. Waiters leads the team with 1.9 shots per game in “clutch” situations since Jan. 17, and he’s shooting an impressive 52.9 percent on those shots.

To put that number into perspective, Celtics All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas — who has earned the nickname “The King in the Fourth” — is shooting 48.3 percent in “clutch” situations this season.

“Dion against teams that step up their defense, he can create off the dribble no matter what his percentage may be during the course of a game or for the season,” Spoelstra said. “You get down to those last couple minutes and he’ll think that his percentage is 60 percent. That’s more than half the battle in this league, your confidence and your ability to make plays over the top.”

That’s exactly what Waiters did in Wednesday’s win over the Hornets. The 25-year-old hit three 3-pointers over the final 4:14 of the game to help the Heat pull away in a 108-101 victory over Charlotte.

Waiters’ final made three of the contest with 45 seconds to play looked like a questionable shot, as it came on a double-clutch jumper with three seconds left on the shot clock.

“It was a little bit of both,” Waiters said when asked if some of his threes were bad shots or just bailout shots with the shot clock running out. “I’m not going to sit here and say it was a bad shot because I work on them shots. I’m not ever going to say that — even if it was.”

But the threes went in down the stretch, and that’s all that matters.

“When he’s making them, they are all great,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said of Waiters with a smile. “He’s confident. He can make those plays from nothing to a made shot. He was just in the zone. But as long as he’s making those shots, we’re fine.”